Well, I must be crazy. At a time when I have a seemingly impossible amount of things to keep up with, and because of which I often times have to take time away from this blog, I’ve become a contributor to yet another blog. The official company blog for my startup, Radical Notion (independent media).

It’s been an extremely long time coming, as I intended (and promised, in fact) to launch the blog over a year ago. Fail. But in any case, now there is an official place where we can share specific news and ideas relating to Radical Notion (independent media), and I don’t have to pull double duty on Producer Notes with posts which don’t always quite fit the context here. Of course, there will still be some spill-over idea/news that will fit the context of Producer Notes, and when appropriate I’ll continue to share.

So I invite you to point your browsers in the direction of the Radical Notion (independent media) blog: radicalnotion.net/blog. We have a specific focus we’re set on there, and would be thrilled to have you join the tribe. The super-easy way is to subscribe to the RSS feed at: feeds.feedburner.com/RadicalNotion

Look forward to talking with some of you over there!

I’m going to be taking a break, once again, from the regular schedule of my weekly posts on Producer Notes. There is a lot going on with Mother/Father (namely their upcoming show w/ Kings Of Leon) at the moment, and I need to offload a few things so that I can take care of those responsibilities.

Although I will be off the regular schedule around here, I do expect to drop in a bit with some posts here and there-just not on a weekly basis. I’m not sure how long this is going to last, or if this relaxed schedule may become a permanent change for Producer Notes.

If you’re interested in following Mother/Father, you can jump over to their website here: thisismotherfather.com. There’s a lot of developments taking shape, which we’re all excited about, and two of which are happening next week:
Mother/Father Grimey’s in-store (win tickets to Kings Of Leon): Thursday, Oct 15th 6pm
Mother/Father with Kings Of Leon: Friday, Oct 16th 7:30pm
Details here

As always, I do appreciate everyone who reads this blog. Hope that you continue to find value here. Thanks for understanding my need to take a break.

Dropping in today just to say I’m back. Thanks for your patience while I skipped out the last two Wednesdays.

I did have a blast on the west coast, hanging with Mother/Father in LA and Seattle. Perhaps too much of a blast, as I evidently picked up a cold in Seattle. The weather there got me ready for autumn, as it felt like Nashville feels in late October.

The west cost response to Mother/Father was incredible. I’m so glad we booked this tour. There were a lot of fans who were very enthusiastic about the band, and I personally got to connect with a lot of people. So if you’ve since found this blog, thanks.

From here, things are going to be pretty busy. We have a lot of stuff planned for the next phase of Mother/Father, as well as Radical Notion. And I guess I’ve also got to hash out some topic ideas for this blog, too.

I’ll be back tomorrow with the regularly scheduled content-an example of a recording/performing artist friend of mine, who I think is doing a brilliant job of new marketing (and getting good results).

Thanks again for being loyal readers and subscribers.

I’m going to have to take a little time off again from Producer Notes, as I’m going to be traveling for a bit. For the next three Wednesdays I will not be posting. The band I manage, Mother/Father, is currently on tour on the west coast, and I am going to spend some time with them in Tucson, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Should be a good time.

Additionally, there have been some late-breaking developments in the Mother/Father camp. We had a last minute addition to their current tour as the opening slot for Glasvegas in Tucson, AZ at The Rialto Theatre on Saturday, August 1st (tomorrow!). Doors are at 7pm if you’re in the Tucson area and want to drop by. But check online first, as I believe tickets may be in short supply at this point.

Also, we have launched the Mother/Father official website today. We intend to use this site as a tool to form and participate in a constant and direct dialogue with the fans of Mother/Father. Through the site, fans can get up to the minute updates on developments as they happen, such as new music, join the conversation on the blog, find out about tour dates the moment they are booked, and pick up on exclusive promotions that may come through various mediums-such as the blog or the newsletter. Jump on over to thisismotherfather.com to take a look at the new site. We already have some ideas for future additions to the site, but let us know what you think so we can work your ideas in with ours.

Lastly, yesterday we published a Mother/Father Facebook page. For those that prefer Facebook over the other social sites, this will allow us to connect with you. Take a look at The Mother/Father Facebook Page, and become a fan to start a conversation and/or post some pictures of a past Mother/Father show.

Thanks for being readers of Producer Notes. I’ll be back at the end of August.

Mondays are a crunch day. People don’t have time to read blogs for all the work that piled up over the weekend. There is too much stress over getting through another week. Monday is just flat out the wrong day to publish new blog posts.

This is why Wednesdays exist. The dust from the uproar of Monday has settled, and everyone is looking for a bit of a “time out” from work by procrastinating in a distraction of some sort.

When I go up against the stress of Monday, I’m always going to lose that competition. So I’d like to increase my chances of getting my blog read by showing up right at the moment people are looking to take their “time out.” Perhaps I’m being naive since record making is off the charts in terms of normal working hours and days.

In any case, I’m going to be switching my posting day from Mondays to Wednesdays. This is an experiment. If it works I will have increased my readers/subscribers/visitors, and I’ll stick with Wednesdays. If not, I’ll be testing out some other days.

As always, I’d love some feedback on this. So please comment away if you have a suggestion. Thanks for being loyal readers, hope your Monday is not too stressful, and I’ll see you Wednesday.

Photo by Greg Westfall. Licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Popping in this afternoon to let you know about a couple quick news items. Radical Notion (independent media), the new media, artist development, and artist management company I’m a partner in, has rolled out two newsletters:

1) The Mother/Father email newsletter. If you’re interested you can find the signup form here: www.thisismotherfather.com

2) The Radical Notion (independent media) email newsletter. If you’re interested in signing up for this one, you can find the signup form here: www.radicalnotion.net.

We’re still brainstorming to come up with some catchy names for these newsletters, so if you got any ideas I’d love it if you would shoot them to me. You can leave them in the comments, or you can email them to me at stinson [at] producernotes [dot] com.

Thanks, and I’ll see you tomorrow…

Photo by eflon. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.

I was originally going to title this post Resurrection, but that implies that I let Producer Notes die entirely. Instead I’d like to think of my lack of posting more as a “work leave” that was necessary as I laid the foundation for my business.

Over the course of the last 18 months I have become a full fledged entrepreneur. Technically this is the second time I’ve been a part of a startup, but this time around the stakes are much higher. Throughout this crusade I have not only learned a tremendous amount of life and business lessons, but I have also discovered so much about myself. For example I found out that I get a life thrill from being involved in a startup. I love the creative brainstorming. I love the beginning stages of development. I find the challenge of building something from scratch electrifying. I have also found out that I love consulting and helping others with their startup ideas, which is probably why I find artist development and management appealing.

No! This Blog is Not Dead

Being a founding member of Radical Notion (independent media) certainly has been challenging. When I set out to give this a shot I knew it would more than likely be the toughest thing I ever set out to do. I had no idea how much of a reality that was until I picked up my hammer and chisel to begin actually chipping away at the stone. Building a company requires one to have multiple projects in action, and at certain times some projects simply have to be sidelined for a moment. I never should have been away from Producer Notes this long, but once switched to “standby mode” it was far too easy to leave it that way. Shame on me.

Flip the Standby Switch

Starting today, I’m going to attempt to get back on my weekly posting schedule of publishing new posts every Monday. I have worked ahead with a few posts which should serve as content for the next few weeks. Additionally, I have been thinking about some ways I can redesign Producer Notes, so hopefully I can come up with a new look and some new features fairly soon.

Thanks for sticking it out with me this long while I was away being an entrepreneur. There will certainly be future instances when I have to take a “work leave,” but I’m optimistic that they will not have to be as long, since the resources available to Radical Notion are expanding.

As always, I appreciate your loyal readership of Producer Notes. I look forward to writing more posts for you throughout the rest of the year, and I look forward to your comments as well. If there are any topics you would like me to explore with you in the coming months, please leave suggestions in the comments.

Photo by Carolyn Coles. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.